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YOUNG  MEN  AND 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


By  Pres.  George  A.  Gates 

of  Hunona  College,  California 


An  Address  given  at  the  Annual  Meeting 
of  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions  at 
Seattle,  Washington, 

Sept.  15,  1905. 


BOSTON 

Published  by  the  American  Board 

1905 


You  Men  and  Foreip  Missions. 

BY  PRES.  GEORGE  A.  GATES. 

The  American  Board  was  created, 
under  God,  by  young  men.  If  ever  it 
should  become  peculiarly  the  special 
charge  of  chiefly  old  men,  that  would  be 
a curious  inversion.  Yet  as  one  ob- 
serves the  constituency  of  the  corporate 
membership,  as  one  notes  the  fact  that 
it  is  mainly  older  and  even  old  men  and 
women  in  our  churches  who  are  especi- 
ally interested  in  this  department  of  the 
work  of  our  churches ; as  one  cannot 
fail  to  perceive  that  it  is  these  same  old- 
er people  who  are  most  largely  the  con- 
tributors to  this,  work,  one  is  not  sur- 
prised that  this  hour  has  been  set  apart 
for  this  special  matter.  All  honor  to  the 
veterans  among  us  who  have  grown 
older  in  this  service.  All  their  wisdom 
and  consecration  are  needed  and  appre- 
ciated. 


It  would  not  be  surprising  if  it  were 
found  to  be  true  that  the  interest  of  these 
faithfuls  began  in  their  youth.  That 
kind  of  sturdy  tree  was  not  created  out- 
right. It  grew',  and  is  strong  because 
it  grew.  If  there  be  a work  “under  the 
all-beholding  sun’’  which  demands  the 
special  characteristics  of  youth,  — zeal, 
tirelessness,  the  hopefulness  that  de- 
clines to  recognize  repeated  and  pro- 
longed defeat,  shrinks  from  no  physical 
hardships,  rejoices  in  superhuman  con- 
secration to  a high  purpose, — such  a 
work  is  foreign  missions  in  the  field  of 
its  operations.  In  saying  this,  one  of 
course  does  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
scores  of  men  and  women  no  longer 
young  are  now  in  the  foreign  work, 
having  added  the  wisdom  of  experience 
and  maturity  to  the  fires  of  youth  under 
which  they  gave  themselves. 

Officered  by  Oi.der  Persons. 

We  are  thus  face  to  face  with  an 
anomaly : An  institution  and  cause 

born  of  the  consecration  of  noble  youth 
and  dependent  particularly  on  qualities 
of  youth,  supported  and  officered  at 


4 


home,  nevertheless,  largely  by  others 
than  young  men  and  women.  This  fact 
has  been  recognized  and  dealt  with  in 
the  past.  Young  men  are  found  among 
the  officers  of  the  board.  The  present 
problem  is  to  push  the  same  movement 
out  among  the  younger  men  in  our 
churches. 

The  cause  needs  and  urgently  needs 
the  added  support  of  a great  body  of 
young  men.  Let  us  face  the  fact  that 
the  young  men  of  our  churches  are  not 
being  enlisted  in  the  support  of  missions 
as  they  must  be  if  the  ranks  of  the  sus- 
taining force  at  home  are  to  be  main- 
tained in  their  normal  strength.  Still 
less  are  these  ranks  being  increased  pro- 
portionately to  the  normal  demands  of 
the  widening  work.  That  is  so  plain  a 
fact  that  one  would  affront  the  intelli- 
gence of  this  audience  to  waste  words 
in  support  of  it. 

Let  us  be  clear  as  to  what  we  are 
talking  about. 

By  “young  men”  we  mean  what  the 
Romans  meant  not  mere  boys,  but  men 
from  1 8 to  40,  men  in  whom  the  enthus- 
iasms of  youth  are  still  dominant  and 
formative. 


5 


By  “in  foreign  missions’’  we  mean  in 
this  present  discussion  not  young  men 
to  go  out  as  missionaries,  but  the  young 
men  of  our  churches  to  support  by  their 
interest  and  by  their  gifts  the  foreign 
missions  department  of  the  church.  So 
narrow  is  this  present  subject  matter  I 
will  confine  myself  to  two  points: 


An  Age  of  Young  Men. 

First,  the  universally  recognized  fact 
that. we  live  in  an  age  of  young  men. 
The  world  of  business  affairs  has  latterly 
as  never  before  been  finding  that  out. 
The  works,  little  less  than  mighty,  of 
modern  corporate  enterprise  are  drawing 
on  the  strongest  young  men  of  our 
country.  The  gigantic  engineering 
triumphs  are  wrought  by  young  men. 
The  inventions  under  which  physical 
forces  are  discovered  and  harnessed  to 
controlled  use,  by  which  daily  life  is  be- 
coming more  than  royally  rich,  are 
mostly  the  work  of  young  men.  The 
world  of  affairs,  of  applied  science,  of 
bringing  things  to  pass  — that  world  is 
making  no  such  prime  blunder  as  to 


6 


neglect  young  men.  That  practical 
world  cannot  afford  to  do  so.  It  needs 
the  livest,  strongest,  most  efficient  ser- 
vice and  it  knows  where  to  go  to  get  it. 
It  actually  gets  it. 

To  come  nearer  our  immediate  con- 
cern. In  many  lines  of  religious  life 
and  work  the  last  quarter  century  has 
learned  much.  Since  the  boyhood  of 
men  of  middle  life  great  changes  have 
come  in  the  phenomenal  growth  of 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
and  Young  Women’s  Christian  Asso- 
ciation work : there  are  in  the  world 
about  7,000  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Associations.  They  own  more  than 
800  buildings,  three-fourths  of  them  in 
America,  whose  value  is  $33,000,000. 
That  amount  of  money  is  about  the  total 
expenditure  of  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
from  its  beginning.  The  Young  Peo- 
ple’s Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  is 
only  a quarter  century  old.  There  have 
come  along  the  Young  People’s  Bap- 
tist Union,  Epworth  League  and  the 
whole  host  of  others.  That  persistent- 
ly recurrent  letter  Y in  all  these  stands 


7 


for  — well,  what  does  it  stand  for? 
Some  crudities  sometimes,  doubtless. 
But  for  boundless  energy,  confidence, 
in  the  end  achievement  every  time.  If 
there  is  failure  here  and  there,  there 
is  recovery  too,  renewed  activity  and 
final  success. 

The  works  of  young  people  in  relig- 
ious lines  grow  almost  beyond  the  abii- 
ityT  of  statistics  to  keep  up  with  them. 


Pastors  Neglect  Chances. 

Now  is  there  any  question  but  that 
foreign  missions  is  somewhat  failing  to 
get  its  share  of  this  splendid  life  ? Of 
course  foreign  missions  plays  its  part  in 
all  these  organizations  of  young  people. 
They  have  their  committees  on  foreign 
missions,  and  make  their  contributions, 
but  are  they  not,  nevertheless,  far,  far 
short  of  what  they  might  be  in  this  re- 
gard? There  is  but  one  answer  from 
any  honest  and  adequate  observer. 

At  whose  door  lies  the  blame  for  this 
lack  ? I can  find  no  other  answer  that 
is  fair  and  true  but  this : At  last  it  is 
the  pastor’s  fault  largely  — dare  one 


8 


say?  Some  of  us  do  know  that  large 
numbers  of  our  pastors  are  not  awake  to 
this  opportunity.  If  the  pastor  be  un- 
intelligent or  indifferent  about  this  vital 
branch  of  the  function  of  the  modern 
church,  of  course  the  people  will  be 
so,  and  especially  the  young  people. 
“What  touches  me  not,  troubles  me 
not,”  says  a German  proverb.  The 
young  people  of  our  churches  can  be 
led  into  enthusiastic  interest  in  foreign 
missions.  But  the  minister  must,  here 
as  elsewhere,  take  the  lead  in  knowledge 
and  interest. 

But  parents  are  to  blame,  too.  Chil- 
dren are  quick  to  feel  where  their 
parents’  real  interests  lie.  In  hundreds 
of  our  homes  the  children  are  trained  to 
persistent  interest  in  foreign  missions, 
but  in  thousands  the  children  are  not  so 
trained. 

But  what  more  can  the  Board  do? 
Much  has  been  done.  The  movement 
to  get  individual  churches  to  support 
individual  missionaries  would  seem  to 
be  wholly  good.  It  is  proving  success- 
ful. For  young  people  especially  con- 
crete causes  and  cases  are  immeasurably 


9 


more  appealing.  The  Board  is  just  now 
adopting  a distinct  policy  of  “working 
the  field”  of  young  men  in  our  churches. 
Ways  will  be  found  to  carry  out  this 
policy.  It  has  alread}*  been  found  that 
response  from  strong,  business-like 
young  men  will  not  be  lacking  when 
once  they  can  be  led  to  see'  what  this 
work  is. 

The  Appeal  to  Young  Men. 

But  I come  to  the  main  point  I would 
emphasize  — the  ground  of  appeal  to 
young  men.  I deliberately  pass  by  the 
great  appeal  on  which  all  missions  rest 
— the  call  of  God  to  man  to  help  his 
needier  fellow  man.  Rather  I do  not 
pass  it  by,  but  assume  it.  Assumed 
also  is  the  appeal  from  the  successes  of 
missions,  for  this  argument  after  nigh  a 
hundred  years  is  not  ashamed  in  any 
court  of  inquiry.  But  I stand  here  to 
lay  emphasis  on  one  point:  The  solemn 
contract  under  which  the  young  ?ncn  of  our 
churches  are  to  support  the  American 
Board. 

And  what  can  one  mean  by  that  ? 
Does  one  say  there  is  no  such  contract, 


io 


nor  indeed  any  contract  ? Let  us  see 
about  that.  Three  years  ago  occurred 
the  great  coal  strike  in  the  anthracite 
fields  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  coal 
miners  on  one  side,  owners  of  mine  and 
railroad  on  the  other.  It  was  mid- 
winter. Boston  and  New  Haven  and 
New  York  were  beginning  to  suffer. 
The  poor  especially  were  in  dire  straits. 
Even  schools,  churches  and  hospitals 
were  running  out  of  fuel.  City  councils 
acted.  Governors  of  states  pleaded  with 
the  parties  to  the  strife  to  save  them 
from  freezing.  But  the  miners  would 
not  dig  coal.  They  said  no  law  and  no 
person  could  compel  them.  The  rail- 
way magnates,  who  also  owned  the  coal 
mines,  replied  that  whether  whole  state- 
fuls of  people  froze  was  no  legal  affair 
of  theirs;  they  couldn’t  furnish  coal  if 
the  miners  wouldn’t  dig  it.  “We  have 
entered  into  no  contract  to  furnish  coal 
to  New  York  City.’’ 

President  Roosevelt. 

Then  something  happened  — some- 
thing that  helped  the  world  on  a step. 
The  constitution  doubtless  does  not  con- 


fer  the  right  on  the  President  to  sum- 
mon parties  to  a quarrel  to  Washington. 
But  Mr.  Roosevelt  did  ask  miners  and 
owners  to  Washington.  Thank  God, 
we  are  not  so  democratic  that  a Presi- 
dent’s invitation  of  that  sort  is  much 
short  of  a command.  The  men  went. 
Underneath  all  the  interview,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  President’s  attitude  was  : 
“You  go  back  and  dig  and  carry  coal. 
My  people  are  freezing.  You  can  argue 
and  readjust  or  fight  at  some  more  con- 
venient time.  But  now  you  men  put 
coal  into  those  cities.” 

They  tried  to  convince  him  it  was  im- 
possible ; they  had  a quarrel  with  each 
other.  There  was  only  one  reply  : “My 
people  are  freezing.  You  get  them 
coal.”  Then  the  mine  owners  rose  in 
their  dignity  as  American  citizens  and 
haughtily  said  : “We  are  not  compelled 
to  do  so.  We  never  contracted  to  fur- 
nish a pound  of  coal  to  New  York  City. 
The  mines  and  railroads  are  our  own, 
to  do  with  as  we  please.”  But  they  did, 
nota  bene,  go  back  and  get  coal  to  the 
freezing  people.  They  did  it  right  off ! 
The  two  parties  argued  out  their  quarrel 
at  their  leisure. 


12 


Had  they  not  proceeded  at  once  to 
furnish  coal  it  is  not  the  least  unlikely 
that  the  President  would  have  assumed 
a constitutional  role  about  which  there 
would  be  no  argument,  namely,  nothing 
other  than  that  of  commander-in-chief 
of  the  United  States  army.  For  soldiers 
can  persuade  to  mine  coal  and  run  rail- 
way trains  when  the  people  are  freezing. 


Contract  With  Humanity. 

That  is : There  are  contracts  immea- 
surably more  binding  than  any  ever 
written  on  paper.  There  is  a “con- 
tract” to  the  effect  that  the  railways 
centering  in  New  York  City  shall  carry 
fuel  to  freezing  folks,  milk  to  dying 
babies,  food  to  starving  people.  It 
doesn’t  have  to  be  written.  Constitu- 
tion, laws,  “private  business”  are  as 
nothing  compared  to  that  contract.  It 
is  written  in  the  nature  of  modern  civili- 
zation, in  the  stars  of  heaven,  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  in  the  purpose  of  God. 

A similar  contract  exists  between 
parents  and  their  children.  Parents  do 
not  sign  a contract  to  do  well  by  their 

13 


children.  But  such  a contract  inheres 
in  every  marriage.  It  is  so  much  more 
binding  than  any  paper  agreement  that 
no  one  would  ever  think  of  so  flimsy  a 
thing  as  a piece  of  paper  with  writing 
on  it,  in  that  connection. 

Exactly  similar  is  the  unwritten  but 
real  contract  into  which  our  churches 
have  entered. 

It  is  binding  between  us  and,  first, 
the  missionaries. 

The  churches  have  bound  themselves 
to  stand  by  those  who,  giving  up  all 
else,  went  away.  They  went  out  trust- 
ing in  the  sacredness  of  that  contract 
between  themselves  and  not  merely  those 
then  living,  but  also  their  successors  in 
the  church  membership.  It  is  a time- 
less contract.  This  kind  does  not  out- 
law. The  churches  of  to-day  are  under 
contract  with  the  missionaries  of  two  or 
three  generations  ago  that  their  plant- 
ing will  be  cherished.  There  is  a whole 
army  of  saints,  nigh  a hundred  years  of 
them,  all  holding  this  sacred  bond  with 
succeeding  generations  of  us. 

This  contract  is  binding  in  a second 
way,  between  us  and  the  peoples  to 


14 


whom  the  missionaries  have  gone. 
Those  converts  have  broken  with  their 
own,  in  many  instances  at  a cost  we  at 
home  can  never  appreciate.  They  have 
given  of  their  means,  helped  to  build 
“plants;”  cast  in  their  fortunes  and 
those  of  their  families  and  descendants 
with  the  new.  We  cannot  make  of  such 
a contract  so  light  a thing  as  to  think 
we  meet  it  by  putting  a 50-cenl  piece 
upon  the  contribution  plate  because  it 
happens  to  be  going  around.  In  com- 
mon decency  must  the  young  men  com- 
ing to  the  fore  of  life  recognize  the 
obligation  of  holiest  contract  with  what 
their  fathers  have  done. 

To  the  strong  young  men  of  these 
later  generations  the  foreign  missions  of 
our  churches  are  not  a matter  of  senti- 
ment. It  is  plain  business,  a clear-cut 
business  obligation.  This  does  not 
mean  that  the  holiest  sentiment  and 
loftiest  ideals  are  any  more  absent  from 
our  great  cause  than  they  ever  were. 
Quite  the  contrary.  The  beauty  and 
the  glory  of  it  grow  with  every  added 
year.  But  over  and  above  all  sentiment 
the  solemn  pressure  of  the  cosmic  con- 


15 


tract  resting  upon  the  young  people  of 
each  succeeding  generation  grows  also. 

There  is  nothing  exceptional  in  this. 
The  rewards  of  God’s  world  are  rewards 
in  kind.  The  pay  we  get  for  doing 
good  work  is  the  chance  to  do  some 
more  and  better.  The  reward  of  self- 
sacrifice  is  the  chance  to  be  more  de- 
voted and  so  enter  into  higher  joy  of  it. 
The  reward  of  generosity  is  just  the 
chance  to  be  more  generous.  So  the 
fidelity  of  the  young  men  of  former  gen- 
erations and  the  loyalty  of  the  hosts  of 
their  converts  is  not  to  free  us  from  bur- 
dens, but  to  spur  us  to  bear  faithfully 
the  burdens  of  the  inheritance  they  have 
bequeathed  us. 

They  laid  out  roads  through  the  wil- 
derness of  darkness  and  superstition, 
ignorance  and  awful  wrong ; it  is  ours 
to  finish  these  roads  and  maintain  them. 
They  laid  foundations  in  confidence  of 
superstructure  ; we  must  build  thereon 
or  proclaim  ourselves  defaulters  of  busi- 
ness obligations,  and  none  the  less 
“business”  that  they  are  also  of  the 
highest  spiritual  content.  To  doubt  the 
validity  of  such  an  appeal  is  to  doubt 


16 


the  integrity  of  the  human  mind  and  the 
power  of  right  motive.  If  the  argu- 
ment of  such  facts  and  their  relations  to 
the  present  and  coming  generations  can 
get  the  ear  of  young  men,  the  response 
cannot  fail. 


Heathendom  and  Heathenism  vs. 

Christianity. 

There  is  a third  item  in  this  contract 
with  the  young  men  of  this  generation  ; 
it  is  with  their  own  and  their  children's 
future  upon  the  earth.  To  any  thought- 
ful observer  it  must  appear  that  this 
world  is  approaching  some  measure  of 
climax  in  the  age-long  struggle  between 
Christianity  and  heathenism.  On  the 
one  side  are  ranged  both  that  heathen- 
dom that  lies  geographically  beyond  the 
borders  of  civilization  and  that  heathen- 
ism that  has  grown  fat  not  only  in  but 
on  the  very  opportunities  created  by 
Christian  civilization,  viz.:  the  oppor- 
tunities of  great  wealth  'born  out  of  dis- 
covering and  harnessing  the  forces  of 


17 


nature.  On  the  other  side  is  the  “king- 
dom of  God  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness.’’ There  is  coming  rapidly  either 
the  tyranny  and  slavery  of  heathendom 
and  heathenism  or  that  broad  democracy 
of  the  gospel  of  the  Savior  of  all  man- 
kind. There  is  a contract  into  which 
every  young  man,  whether  of  our 
churches  or  not,  must  enter,  with  his 
own  business  and  social  future  and  his 
children’s.  Toward  the  perpetuation 
of  the  darkness  or  the  coming  of  the 
light  each  man  must  work.  It  is  safe 
to  assert  that  the  most  conserving  and 
integrating  force  in  the  present  stage  of 
building  the  human  race  is  foreign  mis- 
sions. Like  the  sunshine,  its  work  is 
noiseless,  patient,  effective. 

But  to  the  Christian  young  man  comes 
the  appeal  above  all  others  of  a “con- 
tract’’ with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
That  contract,,  if  one  may  reverently 
dare  so  bold  a figure,  is  stamped  with 
the  blood-red  seal  of  Calvary.  He  has 
redeemed  this  world  — not  a part  of  it, 
but  all  of  it.  The  Christian  young  man 
has  entered  into  contract  with  Him  to 
help  no  less  a work  than  world  redemp- 


18 


tion.  How  dare  any  young  man  range 
his  work,  influence,  plain  money  gifts 
to  any  lower  scale  ? To  that  high  pur- 
pose, “the  love  of  Christ  constrains" 
him  and  us  all. 


Send  contributions  for  the  work  of  the 
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FRANK  H.  WIGGIN,  Treasurer, 

Congregational  House,  Boston 


The  literature,  leaflets  and  letters  of  the 
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Mr.  John  G.  Hosmer,  Congregational 
House,  14  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

Or  at  the  offices  of  the  District  Secretaries  : 

Rev.  C.  C.  Creegan,  D.D.,  4th  Avenue  and 
22d  Street,  New  York  City. 

Rev.  A.  N.  Hitchcock,  Ph.I).,  163  La  Salle 
Street,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  H.  Melville  Tenney,  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
Building,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


“THE  MISSIONARY  HERALD.” 
Single  subscriptions,  75  cents;  in  clubs  of 
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'FORM  OF  BEQUEST. 

I give,  devise  and  bequeath  unto  the 
“American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,”  incorporated  in  Massachu- 
setts in  1812,  the  sum  of 

dollars,  to  be  expended  for  the  appropriate 
objects  of  said  corporation. 


I 


